The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 27

suocu1sful temptation of the devil to lure the Church of God away from throwing all her energy to the task of preaching the gospel to every creature. We may not think of the coming of Christ· as if it were to effect the new creation of God's grace, or to build the temple of the Lord. That 18 being done now, Christ will come because the harvest of earth is ripe, and tehen it ls ripe. His work will be that-Of judgment. He will come, not to assume his sovereignty, but to reveal it to an unbelieving world and t.o an exultant and victorious Church. There are nine views which we may take of the reappearing of-our Lord. l. THl!l SE(,'OND COMING I8 THE NEXT GREAT EVENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OJI' TII'B DIVINE DISPENSATIONS, There are three points on which Old and New Testament prophecy bids us fix our gaze, all gathering round the word "coming:" the Redeemer is " the Coming One "-" coming in weakness to suffer; " "coming in the energy of his ·Spirit to create and build up and consummate the Church; " " coming in sublime ma.nifeatation to judge the world." All is, however; in the scriptural view, an unbroken unity-the working out of a Divine plan, not an evolution of blind force. Our Lord, in the discourse to his disciples recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, speaks of two events then in view-one, the destruction of Jerusalem; another, the end of the world. Of the former he says, "This generation shall not pass till all t7- •ihings be fulfilled." Of the latter," Of that day and hour knoweth no man," etc. .And the latter is '' the end of the age." When Peter spake on the Day of Pentecost, he -declared that the outpouring of the Holy Ghost began on that day, as spoken of by Joel, ushering in, as it were, a period which was bounded in the far distance by" the -day of the Lord." .And so throughout the Epistles, "the day of Christ,"" that day," "the day of the Lord," is uniformly the far point heyond which none can peer, and for which all things are waiting (cf. Acts i. 11; Phil. i. 10; 2 Tim. i. 12)-" looking for," " basting unto," "waiting for the manifestatio:n of the sons of God." . II. IT I8 AN EVENT WHICH 18 EVEN NOW ON THE WAY. He is coming (tpxn-cu). He is, as it were, moving towards us every moment. Not as if nothing were being done now, nor as if there were even a pause for a while. Not as if it were indifferent to us until certain signs meet our eye which tell that the end is close upon us. Not so-not so :js the meaning of the text. He is coming. He is actually on the way. The train of events which will bring him to us has long ago begun to move ; and only, only as we recognize this do we understand the meaning ot the dispensation under which we live. Of old, whether men knew it or not, every event was made subservient to the first appearing; and now every event is being so guided and controlled as to prepare the way for the second. Not a moment is being lost. III. THOUGH CERTAIN A8 TO FACT, IT 18 UNKNOWN .!.S TO TIME-AND UNKNOW.ABLE. u Of that day and hour knoweth no man ; " "It is not for you to know· the times and the sessons, which the Father bath put in his own power." Ever since the beginning of the Christian age there have been ever and anon men who have professed, by calculations of prophetic time, to assign dates for this or that; but again and again have their systems failed. When even such a one as Dr. Cumming 1 was obliged to own that if he could tell when the twelve hundred and sixty years began, he could tell when they woulp. end, but that he must confess that the former was a mere conjecture. who does not see the futility of thus wasting time in the attempt t.o reveal what our ·Lord meant to conceal ? There are manifestly high and holy ends to be served in this concealment. Did we know the precise moment when all things are to come to a ·stand, such knowledge would bring ~hem to confusion. Besides, the text.s in Mark xiii. 35 and Matt. xxiv. 36-44 are decisive on this point. ' JV. THERE WILL BE SIGNS WHICH WILL PRECEDE THE COMING OP THE l.oRD. From those convulsions of nations, etc., of which many make l!O much, we gather no light, -Hince they are to mark the entire duration of this dispensation, and hence neither of them can he taken as a sign of its immediate close. Nor will there be any change in the daily movements of men, any more than there was in the days of Noah, "until the :flood came, and took them all away." True, "the heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved unto fire," etc.; but that fire will be one of the accompaniments of the second coming, not a sign to precede it. The sign which will indicate the approaching .end will be the ripening alike or tares and wbea1-ha·l and good. The bad will get 1 In • The Great Tril.iulation.'  U THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [OIi, I. 1-20;